MSC aims to begin smelting ops at new Pulau Indah plant soon
Tin miner and metal producer Malaysia Smelting Corp Bhd (MSC) said the relocation to its new smelting facility in Pulau Indah, Port Klang, is progressing well and expects full smelting operations to commence in the near term.
Group chief executive officer Datuk Dr Patrick Yong said the relocation would enable the company to establish a more solid foundation for growth amid an increasingly challenging operating landscape, including uncertain macroeconomic conditions and volatile tin price movements.
“The technology upgrade will significantly enhance the group’s extractive yields in a more costefficient and environment friendly manner. The new plant uses natural gas as fuel and follows a more comprehensive singlestage continuous smelting process, leading to a minimisation in MSC’s carbon footprint,” he said in a statement yesterday.
Even with the Pulau Indah facility in full operations, the company’s plant in Butterworth would remain in service to ensure problem-free production, he added.
The Pulau Indah plant would employ cutting-edge top submerged lance (TSL) technology to reduce costs and over-reliance on intensive labour, said MSC, adding that the overall process efficiency would also be achieved with the TSL single-stage smelting compared to the dated reverbatory furnaces employed at its Butterworth plant.
It will be utilising renewable energy via its installed rooftop solar panels and will be tapping waste heat from the furnaces, thus recycling energy from operating thermal wastage and in line with the group’s aim to become a more sustainable tin player.
The set-up at the Pulau Indah plant will enable a scale-up in production capacity of 50 per cent from 40,000 tonnes per year currently.
“As we commence operations in Pulau Indah and eventually phase out production in Butterworth, we anticipate a gradual improvement in our financial performance,” said Yong.
Following the migration, the company would be well-positioned to benefit from the rising demand for tin with lower operational costs, he said.
“We will continuously review our strategies to ensure that the group stays resilient against external headwinds and explore new areas of growth with the aim of further establishing the company as a leading integrated tin player,” he added.
The impending move to Pulau Indah will also involve an internal restructuring exercise affecting some 550 employees at the Butterworth smelter.
While MSC provides employees the opportunity to relocate from Butterworth to Pulau Indah and upskill their capabilities to operate more advanced technologies, there will be a reduction in manpower as the new modern plant requires fewer workers.
Hence, MSC will be undertaking a voluntary separation scheme that would allow employees to opt out while receiving a fair and equitable compensation package.